Seven tips to improve your writing

My book club recently read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. It’s a delightful book about an aristocrat under house arrest in the austere Metropol Hotel in Moscow. The prose is entrancing and the story captivating, if not a little slow at times. What struck me was the idea of living in a place for three plus decades without ever venturing out of the hotel doors. Just imagine how much your community has changed in three decades. Is the…

Tragedy brings people together and bridges divides. We rally around a common purpose. We forget our political views and why we started a beef with our neighbor. Instead, we remember that everyone needs a hand up from time to time. And we willingly extend our hand. The warmth of the human experience is revealed. We feel alive in the company of loss. The tragedy of February 24, 2017 resulted in just that reaction. On that fateful evening, three members of…

I can hear my son, the soon-to-be English teacher, say “this is better than fiction!” Our recent trip to Memphis found us staying in the guest house of a beautiful mansion owned by three men with a pet squirrel, Rupert. It seems Rupert fell from a tree when he was only four weeks old. Left to fend for himself and unable to do so, the three nursed him to adulthood. That meant bottle-feeding him, making sure he stayed warm and…

I’ve accepted a challenge to write 500 words a day for 31 days. Today is the first day! Writing 500 words is not an overwhelming task. It’s about the length of a short newspaper article. When I finish this blog, I will have written about 500 words. No, what’s daunting is to do it 31 days in a row for a total of 15,500 words! I’m taking this challenge to improve my writing skills. Like anything, if you want to…

And so it begins. As we eagerly anticipate warmer weather and the docks being cleared from our shoreline and finding their footings on the sandy lake bottom, we just as eagerly look forward to the family and friends who will cross our threshold this summer. Now that we’ve turned the calendar to April, we’ll be nudging our landscaper to dust off the plans we discussed in December and get busy planting. We’ll be reminding another that we’re ready to start…

As we were preparing last December for our southern travels, I was asked by more than one person, “will you be back in Crosslake by St. Patrick’s Day?” And told by others, “don’t miss St. Patrick’s Day.” Well, without regard to when St. Patrick’s Day fell on the calendar, we had planned to return to Crosslake on March 15th. Phew…two days to spare. Snow or no snow, March 17th signals an end to winter for this northern bunch who endure…

I’m excited to be embarking on a new adventure…freelance writing and editing. While this is a new chapter in my life, I’m no stranger to writing. In fact, I’ve spent my career doing just that. And I’ve found I have the skills to be persuasive in my writing and to provide clarity to the subject at hand. In this, my first blog post, let me tell you a bit about me. I recently retired after 34 years with the Iowa Newspaper…

As I contemplated launching my freelance writing business, I thought a lot about what my blog might look like. What information could I offer to potential clients that would be helpful? I could provide writing tips, but would that keep people coming back? I’ve settled on a potpourri of things. I’ll share some interesting writing tips from time to time. And, as I see other bloggers who are sharing insightful information, I may include excerpts of those as well. But,…

Periodically, I’ll post videos and other information I’ve found that provide valuable information to improve your writing. Writing for business differs from academic or creative writing. When writing for business, your goal is to clearly communicate to achieve a desired outcome. Enjoy!

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